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Katie Woolf spoke with Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In the studio right now. The Lord Mayor of Darwin
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  Speaker 1: conbat scarlas Katie and.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know what's flowering out there, but my eyes
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: are itchy. I just running so things are flowering.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: You look like you have got the worst say fever.
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  Speaker 2: Man, I'm kidding with pharmacy. How to get some drops
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  Speaker 2: from my eyes?
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  Speaker 3: I think it better I suffer from hay fever. I
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  Speaker 3: know it's not fun now.
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  Speaker 2: Conn.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously you and Mattie Hepworth last week extensively covered the
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  Speaker 3: issue of the RSL development development. You told Maddy Hepworth this,
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  Speaker 3: I take a listen.
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  Speaker 2: There was no time to convey to the electric members
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  Speaker 2: and I thought it was proved that if we're going
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  Speaker 2: to make such a significant decision, we've got all the
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  Speaker 2: information together before we make the decision.
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  Speaker 3: So there seems to be I guess there's been quite
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  Speaker 3: a bit of confusion for a lot of people wondering
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  Speaker 3: exactly what's going on. But Conn, there has obviously since
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  Speaker 3: been Larakia other Larachie elders come out and say that
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  Speaker 3: it isn't a birthing sight where the RSL is wanting
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  Speaker 3: to be able to construct their How are you a
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  Speaker 3: council going to determine if this site is indeed culturally significant.
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  Speaker 2: And that's the reason why I delayed any decision until
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  Speaker 2: it's clarified what we actually have in our hands or
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  Speaker 2: what we've got in that car park. I have to
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  Speaker 2: say that Bilawara Lei came with the information to me,
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  Speaker 2: which actually I immediately conveyed to my my aldermen, and I said, look,
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  Speaker 2: under the circumstance, I think will be very unwise to
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  Speaker 2: make a decision. And then of course other people said, oh, no,
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  Speaker 2: it's not there, somewhere else. But then the Aboriginal Area
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  Speaker 2: Protection Authority came out publicly on the media and said, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: there are sites there. So my Council of the Officer
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  Speaker 2: now they'll be writ into the Aboriginal Protection Authority to
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  Speaker 2: clarify the situation, what's there and where it is.
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  Speaker 3: So con does it mean that realistically any development along
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  Speaker 3: that area of the esplanade, i the Lamarou baths, et cetera,
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  Speaker 3: it's not going to be able to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we know that there's a sacred site at the
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  Speaker 2: bottom of the esplanad. I already spoke to Richard Fijil
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  Speaker 2: about it. But as if you heard the Richard Fidget
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  Speaker 2: is very enthusia to g about the Lama robats. But
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  Speaker 2: if there are secret sides, they have to be taken
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  Speaker 2: into consideration. They have to be negotiated with traditional honors
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  Speaker 2: in order to resolve the issue. Let me mention something
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  Speaker 2: to you. John and Teller ex alderman of Darwin for
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  Speaker 2: twenty years plus. He saw me the other day and
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  Speaker 2: he said to me, the holy about this car park
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  Speaker 2: is strange to him because it's not part of the explanat.
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  Speaker 2: It's been always on CBD. It was a car pack
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  Speaker 2: he used as a car park. As most importantly it's
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  Speaker 2: been used as a stand down facility by the army
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  Speaker 2: for the bombing of Darwin. It's where they come they
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  Speaker 2: pack the heavy equipment, the trucks. That's where they cart
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  Speaker 2: all the canons which then they convey push them into
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  Speaker 2: the cenotaph area. So it is a car pack. It
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  Speaker 2: has been a car.
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  Speaker 1: Pack and so that's what you think it should start.
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  Speaker 2: Well, if I don't if we don't have that one,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know where we're going to bring the army
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  Speaker 2: and the heavy equipment and how we got how they're
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  Speaker 2: going to put them into the into position for the
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  Speaker 2: bombing of Darwin ceremonies.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just confused because I'm like, well, what is the
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  Speaker 3: reason here, because we're kind of hearing so many different reasons,
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  Speaker 3: and I think lots of people and everybody, everybody.
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  Speaker 2: Comes with an idea about the whole thing. The reality
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  Speaker 2: is it's been a car back for forty year plus,
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  Speaker 2: is on CBD. It's not part of the esplnaut the esplanam.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody knows very well where it is. I mean, we
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  Speaker 2: even had people saying that we should be the ars
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  Speaker 2: cel near the period memorial. That means digging out the
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  Speaker 2: esplant to put the RSEL there. That is not going
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  Speaker 2: to happen over time.
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  Speaker 3: We now, are you just totally opposed to anything happening
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  Speaker 3: on the esplanade now? Because you and I've spoken in
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  Speaker 3: the past, and you had said to me in the
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  Speaker 3: past that you would like to see maybe a cafe
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  Speaker 3: down in the playground, even a restaurant.
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  Speaker 2: So there are we've got now somebody who's actually have
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  Speaker 2: a van that comes near the playground. And recently we
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  Speaker 2: put the toilet because a lot of people, especially parents,
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  Speaker 2: complain about the kids not having access to a.
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  Speaker 4: Toilet, because where's the toilet now? The toilet is.
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  Speaker 2: Very close to the to the playground, near next to it,
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  Speaker 2: actually installed last week.
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  Speaker 4: I can't. I'll have to we have to put.
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  Speaker 2: In the esplande, but there's no need for a building
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  Speaker 2: to go on the explanat the esplant is an open
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  Speaker 2: space and will remain an open space.
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  Speaker 3: Conn The Anti Independent is reporting that your sudden deferral
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  Speaker 3: of a crucial council vote on the RSL's proposed Espnada
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  Speaker 3: establishment was actually influenced by an undisclosed letter of illegal nature,
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  Speaker 3: not solely overclaims of an indigenous sacred site.
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  Speaker 4: Is that the case, Well, if.
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  Speaker 2: They've got the legal letter, they put it on the
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  Speaker 2: on the newspaper.
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  Speaker 4: Because there's no legal letter, so there's not a letter.
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  Speaker 2: No, As I said before Belawar Ali, and she confirmed
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  Speaker 2: herself the day after. Was there one who actually came
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  Speaker 2: with the news? I have to say I was surprised
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  Speaker 2: why then, but still I'm very pleased it did because
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  Speaker 2: it gave me this information which we didn't have in
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  Speaker 2: our hands. And quite right so, because we're not the proponents,
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  Speaker 2: it's the art of the proponents.
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  Speaker 3: So at this point in time, I suppose, just for
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  Speaker 3: anybody out there listening, there will be as far as
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  Speaker 3: the Council is concerned, there will be absolutely no development
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  Speaker 3: along the explanade.
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  Speaker 2: But would still I have said all along nothing will
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  Speaker 2: happen in the explanet and I'm saying again.
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  Speaker 4: Said that.
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  Speaker 1: Before.
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  Speaker 3: Essentially the people who want other stuff are dream destroyers.
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  Speaker 2: No, I said to you before that every time it's
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  Speaker 2: trying to do something in Darwin that people will oppose it.
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  Speaker 4: Starting from the column.
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  Speaker 1: About it just confused.
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  Speaker 3: I've spoken about things like a cafe or a restaurant,
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  Speaker 3: and now all of a sudden publicly it's totally no,
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  Speaker 3: there's nothing happening.
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  Speaker 2: The explan as an open space. The only thing we
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  Speaker 2: put there was actually the previous council put a playground.
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  Speaker 2: You don't have to have a cafe on the esplanaut
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  Speaker 2: As I said before, they've got so many facilities on
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  Speaker 2: the road opposite the esplanade. You don't have to put
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  Speaker 2: in the grushed area. Why we don't have something, let's say,
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  Speaker 2: at the Double Trees hotels down there, that people actually
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  Speaker 2: can access a coffee shop across the esplanade. Why everything
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  Speaker 2: is actually on the ground floor and not on the
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  Speaker 2: top like another places in Europe.
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  Speaker 3: So sorry, just to go back to so nothing will
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  Speaker 3: be built along the Esplanade, but you will still forge
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: your head with the plans to develop the lamarou.
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  Speaker 2: Bards because it's not on the Esplanade. It's actually on
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  Speaker 2: the sea, below the escarpment of the Esplanah.
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  Speaker 3: All right, but if someone comes forward and says that
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  Speaker 3: it's a sacred site or that we know there is
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  Speaker 3: in some way, may not go ahead.
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  Speaker 2: We are not there's there, but the traditional owners, as
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  Speaker 2: Richard Fidger said, they're okay with They're okay with it,
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  Speaker 2: there's no problem about it. But as I do you before,
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  Speaker 2: this development would be at the bottom of the Esplanet,
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  Speaker 2: on the sea, not on the explanet. And again when
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  Speaker 2: I'm calling about cafe, I'm not saying dig out the
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  Speaker 2: grass and put it there. Why you want to do
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  Speaker 2: that one? There are so many already establishments across the
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  Speaker 2: world from the Explanat that can utilize the Esplanat to
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  Speaker 2: their benefit, but they seem not to do it.
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  Speaker 3: I just don't understand why we have, you know, like
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  Speaker 3: why we've sort of decided that nothing at all can
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  Speaker 3: happen along the esplanade. It's a beautiful space. No one's
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  Speaker 3: suggesting that we go and build a high rise. But
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  Speaker 3: why can't we be in a situation like we are
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  Speaker 3: in Nightclibes.
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  Speaker 2: I absolutely agree with you, But we had a situation
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  Speaker 2: in previous councils that will not catch even the trees
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  Speaker 2: and the coffee bush because it was somehow a sacred place. No,
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  Speaker 2: what's the point of having a beautiful place like the esplanade?
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  Speaker 2: But you can't see a harbor. So the first thing
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  Speaker 2: I did was clean the coffee bush, clean the invasive species,
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  Speaker 2: remove the.
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  Speaker 4: Plans that they didn't belong there.
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  Speaker 2: And all of a sudden I people said to me, oh,
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  Speaker 2: we can see the harbor, and that's the purpose of
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  Speaker 2: having a beautiful xplanet, all right.
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  Speaker 3: Con I think I'm just as confused at the end
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  Speaker 3: of the interview is what I was when I started.
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  Speaker 1: But we are going to have to leave it.
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  Speaker 2: There's no confusion on the esplants. The explanet is like
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  Speaker 2: the esplaner as a green space. It will stage as such.
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  Speaker 2: You don't have to build on the esplanaut. You can
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  Speaker 2: actually do a lot of development. And if I was
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  Speaker 2: a businessman or in one of.
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  Speaker 3: These hotel you have said to me on this show
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  Speaker 3: before or that you would like to see a restaurant
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  Speaker 3: or a cafe on the Esplanade.
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  Speaker 1: So, like I said, I'm a bit confused.
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  Speaker 2: Not on the explanet, but on the xplanets as a locality.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, now I've confused the work.
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  Speaker 2: Well it is we call the esplant. When I called
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  Speaker 2: the Esplanade, I don't mean only the the crass area.
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  Speaker 2: I mean the whole locality from where it starts from.
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  Speaker 4: The pats or the way in somewhere. That's right.
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  Speaker 2: But again, we put a playground, we put a toilet.
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  Speaker 2: That is something you can put in the esplanet. But
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  Speaker 2: if I was the owner of one of the hotels,
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  Speaker 2: I was making really every effort to put coffee shops
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  Speaker 2: and restaurants there. People can sit and enjoy the Esplanade.
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  Speaker 3: All right, combat scolars, We always appreciate your time. Thank
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  Speaker 3: you for coming in this morning. You are listening to
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  Speaker 3: Mix one or four point nine